I am trying to write a playbook to add log forwarder lines to syslog.conf on AIX.
The tasks looks like this:
- set_fact:
log_servers:
- "auth.info\t#10.10.10.100"
- "*.info\t#log.example.com"
- lineinfile:
path: /etc/syslog.conf
regexp: '^{{item}}'
line: '{{item}}'
loop: "{{log_servers}}"
The first line is inserted with no issues, but I get a Python exception when the second line is encountered because of the leading asterisk.
An asterisk can be anywhere else in the line, but not at the start of the line. And escaping with a backslash (\*.info\t#log.example.com) causes a JSON parsing error, and a double backslash (\\*.info\t#log.example.com) just inserts a backslash at the front of the line.
Any advice on how to get around this?
Your issue is coming from the fact that you are trying to use the same string for a regex (where you need to escape the star) and for the line to add (where you don't need to escape the star).
There is a way to resolve this, though, it is to use the builtin regex_escape filter.
And so, your two task should become:
- set_fact:
log_servers:
- "auth.info\t#10.10.10.100"
- "*.info\t#log.example.com"
- lineinfile:
path: /etc/syslog.conf
regexp: '^{{ item | regex_escape() }}'
line: '{{ item }}'
loop: "{{ log_servers }}"
Related
I am trying to add a new line in a file through ansible lineinfile module. Below is the task defined in the playbook.
lineinfile:
path: /etc/httpd/file.conf
line: myfilecontent
It works fine and add a new line in the file. But when i modify the line content to some another value i.e mynewfilecontent it adds another line instead of updating it.
lineinfile:
path: /etc/httpd/file.conf
line: mynewfilecontent
Help is appreciated.
Thanks
Use the state parameter of lineinfile module and create the structure below
my_lines:
- line: myfilecontent
state: absent
- line: mynewfilecontent
state: present
The state parameter controls if the line is present, or absent in the file. See the example below
- hosts: localhost
vars:
my_lines:
- line: myfilecontent
state: absent
- line: mynewfilecontent
state: present
tasks:
- lineinfile:
path: /tmp/test.conf
create: yes
line: "{{ item.line }}"
state: "{{ item.state }}"
loop: "{{ my_lines }}"
Note 1.
The structure can be simplified by adding the state parameter only if the line is absent
my_lines:
- line: myfilecontent
state: absent
- line: mynewfilecontent
Declare default state present in the loop
state: "{{ item.state|default('present') }}"
Note 2.
The default state, defined in the module, is present, hence the state parameter may be omitted if not present in the data structure
state: "{{ item.state|default(omit) }}"
All 3 variations above are functionally equivalent.
If you want your line to potentially replace an existing line in the file then you need to provide a regexp argument to the lineinfile module.
The regular expression to look for in every line of the file.
For state=present, the pattern to replace if found. Only the last line found will be replaced.
For state=absent, the pattern of the line(s) to remove.
If the regular expression is not matched, the line will be added to the file in keeping with insertbefore or insertafter settings.
When modifying a line the regexp should typically match both the initial state of the line as well as its state after replacement by line to ensure idempotence.
The last line which matches your regexp will be replaced with your line value; if there is no match then a new line will be added.
Without a regexp argument the module will just check for an exact match to your line value.
See https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/lineinfile_module.html.
- name: Cassandra cassandra.yaml
lineinfile:
dest: "{{ home}}/conf/cassandra.yaml"
state: present
regexp: "{{ item.regexp }}"
line: "{{ item.line }}"
# backup: yes
with_items:
- { regexp: "data_file_directories:", line: "data_file_directories: \n - {{ data_directory }}" }
in the first file first run it looks good but in the second run it keeps adding new line. what needs to be done in order to the second run also looks good.
data_file_directories:
- /mount1/data
second run
data_file_directories:
- /mount1/data
- /mount1/data
- /mount1/data
I want some thing like
data_file_directories:
- /mount1/data
lineinfile ― as its name suggest ― is a module to ensure a certain line is in the target file; not lines.
To deal with multiple lines either:
use regexp module with matchgroup and backreference ― the exact implementation is dependent on other constructs in the target file,
use blockinfile module ― the exact implementation is dependent on other constructs in the target file,
or (preferably) use template module.
I was trying to replace one string in a file. For example:
$PASSWORD="oldpassword"
with:
$PASSWORD="newpassword"
Here is the Ansible task which should do this:
- name: change password with lineinfile
lineinfile:
dest: test.txt
regexp: '^$PASSWORD='
line: '^$PASSWORD="newpassword"'
state: present
backrefs: yes
Unfortunately I can't find the reason why it isn't working. I cannot replace it with the new string.
I was also trying without backrefs and the string was added instead of replaced.
Please advise.
Thank you.
From Regular expression operations:
$: Matches the end of the string or just before the newline at the end of
the string
So, escape $ with backslash.
- lineinfile:
dest: /tmp/test.txt
regexp: '^\$PASSWORD='
line: '$PASSWORD="newpassword"'
state: present
Also you don't need to use the backrefs parameter with your example, because your regular expression doesn't have backreferences.
I'm new to Ansible and trying to modify a line in /etc/default/grub to enable auditing.
I need to add audit=1 within the quotes somewhere on a line that looks like:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="crashkernel=auto rd.lvm.lv=centos/root rd.lvm.lv=centos/swap biosdevname=0 net.ifnames=0 rhgb quiet net.ifnames=0"
So far I've managed to delete the line and am only left with
net.ifnames=0, audit=1
when I use something like
lineinfile:
state: present
dest: /etc/default/grub
backrefs: yes
regexp: "net.ifnames=0"
line: "\1 audit=1"
Can this be done?
You may try this:
- lineinfile:
state: present
dest: /etc/default/grub
backrefs: yes
regexp: '^(GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=(?!.* audit)\"[^\"]+)(\".*)'
line: '\1 audit=1\2'
This will add audit=1 (with a leading space) just before closing double quote. It will not match without double quotes.
And it tries to be idempotent: doesn't match lines that already have audit (with a leading space) after GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=.
I'd recommend to use sites like regex101 to test your regular expressions first (there's also a substitution mode there).
When you're satisfied with the result, proceed with the Ansible task.
I wanted to make sure the parameter is also set to the correct value, so I used this replace invocation:
replace:
path: /etc/default/grub
regexp: '^(GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=(?:(?![" ]{{ option | regex_escape }}=).)*"?)\s*(?:{{ option | regex_escape }}=\S+\s*)?(.*")$'
replace: '\1 {{ option }}={{ value }}\2'
vars:
option: audit
value: 1
This works if the option wasn't present previously, if it was but had the wrong option (only changes the value then) and if the whole string was empty (but adds a space before the option then). Also, it uses regex_escape to correctly work with option names that contain dots and the likes, and you only have to specify them once.
When I use lineinfile in ansible it is not writing ', " characters
lineinfile: 'dest=/home/xyz state=present line="CACHES="default""'
it is giving CACHES=default
but the desired output is CACHES="default"
How to achieve this?
it appears you can escape the quotes:
- lineinfile: dest=/tmp/xyz state=present line="CACHES=\"default\""
That gives this output:
$ cat /tmp/xyz
CACHES="default"
You don't need to escape single quotes that are inside double quotes:
- lineinfile: dest=/tmp/xyz state=present line="CACHES=\"default\" foo='x'"
cat /tmp/xyz
CACHES="default" foo='x'
source: YAML specification, stackoverflow answer
Ansible 1.9.2 contains a bug (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/10864), which fails to insert escaped double quotes at the beginning or end of the line.
E.g., the following
- name: /home/core/linetest
lineinfile: dest="/home/core/linetest" line="\"ma\"ok\"in\""
will result in missing first and last double-quotes (even though you escaped it).
#/home/core/linetest
ma"ok"in
To compensate for this bug, you could add a PREFIX to the starting and ending double quotes, and subsequently removing it.
- name: PREFIX first and last escaped double quotes with 'KUCF'
lineinfile: dest="/home/core/linetest" line="KUCF\"main\"KUCF"
- name: remove 'KUCF' PREFIX
replace: dest="/home/core/linetest" regexp="KUCF" replace=""
which should give you
#/home/core/linetest
"main"
Make sure that your chosen PREFIX will never be used in the context of the destination file. In general, the longer and more random the PREFIX, the less likely it will clash with existing content in your destination file.
Alternatively, you could upgrade your Ansible to the latest branch.
If the content to be substituted is in a variable higher up in the playbook, it seems that you need to escape the escape characters instead of the quotes, something like this
---
- hosts: tomcat
vars:
classpath: "CLASSPATH=\\\"$CATALINA_HOME/bin/foo.jar\\\""
tasks:
- lineinfile: dest="/tomcat/bin/setenv.sh" line="{{ classpath }}" state=present
ends up with a line like this in the resulting file
CLASSPATH="$CATALINA_HOME/bin/foo.jar"
Just a follow up to this, above examples did not work for me when trying to create a batch file on a windows box using win_lineinfile. The file was being created, the line was being inserted, but the quotes and backslashes were formatted terribly. This was with ansible 2.4. What I finally ended up doing per a co workers suggestion was some inline jinja templating;
- name: insert our batch file contents
win_copy:
dest: C:\QAAutomation\files\posauto.bat
force: yes
content: |
{% raw %}"C:\Program Files (x86)\NUnit 2.6.3\bin\nunit-console.exe" "C:\QAAutomation\files\1POS Automation\Application Files\Bin\Automation.dll" > "c:\QAAutomation\results\nunit-console-output.txt" {% endraw %}